Sixties
Citypresents
a wide-ranging series of
articles on all aspects of the Sixties, penned by the creator of the iconic
60s music paper Mersey
Beat

The
original series of ‘Bewitched’ ran on ABC in America for 306 episodes
from 1964-1972, but it is still screened in syndication throughout
the world and is now available on DVD. The idea was first mooted in
1962 by Screen Gems Vice President, William Dozier, who told a fellow
executive: “What if we did a series about a pretty young witch married
to a ‘straight’ husband, who didn’t know when he married her that
she was a witch?” Of course, a similar theme had already been filmed
in the Forties with Veronica Lake starring in ‘I Married A Witch.’

Originally, actress Tammy Grimes was approached to play the lead,
but she turned it down. Elizabeth Montgomery and her husband William
Asher had been looking for a project on which they could work together
and she accepted the lead, also negotiating 20% of the profits, which
were to bring her $6 million over the course of the series.

Sadly, the stars: Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York, Dick Sargent and
Agnes Moorhead are all deceased. The only original members of the
main cast who are still alive at the time of writing are Erin and
Diane Murphy, who played Samantha’s daughter Tabitha and David and
Grey Lawrence who shared the role of Adam, Samantha’s son. Lisa Hartman
portrayed Samantha’s daughter Tabitha in a spin-off series ‘Tabitha’
in 1997.

In the television series Elizabeth Montgomery played Samantha. She
originally decided to take on the role because she wanted to work
with her husband, William Asher, who directed the first 14 episodes
of the series. Elizabeth was eight months pregnant at the time, so
her husband had to film the first five shows without her, adding in
her parts at a later date. She was to comment; “When people normally
think of witches they imagine either funny old crones with long noses
or someone kind of dark and sultry. The fact that I don’t look exotic
and witch-like is an enormous boost for the show.”

On their wedding night, Samantha reveals to her husband
Darrin that she is a witch who has supernatural powers. By the mere twitching
of her nose, objects can move, people can disappear, mortals can be changed
into animals. A distraught Darrin, very much in love with his wife, gets
her to promise that she won’t use her witchcraft. Despite her promise, situations
occur which lead her to use her powers regularly, mainly due to the mischievous
actions of her mother Endora, her father Maurice and her Uncle Arthur, the
latter a practical joker. The premise launched the 306 episode half hour
show (180 of them in colour) which made its debut in September 1964 and
lasted until July 1972.

Asher
was to say, “The show portrays a mixed marriage that overcomes, by
love, the enormous obstacles in its path. Samantha, in her new role
as housewife, represents the true values in life. Material gains mean
nothing to her. She can have anything she wants through witchcraft,
yet she’d rather scrub the kitchen floor on her hands and knees for
the man she loves. It is emotional satisfaction that she craves.”

Samantha’s father, Maurice (Maurice Evans), lives in London but materialises
in his Rolls Royce from time to time to see his grandchildren and
taunt his son-in-law. There is also Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde), a warlock
who loves playing practical jokes, Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne), who
is loveable but completely incompetent and Esmeralda (Alice Ghostley)
who often acts as baby sitter and housekeeper, but with disastrous
results. Serena (also played by Elizabeth
Montgomery) was Samantha’s mischievous identical cousin.

Adding to the frustrations of the harassed ad agency
executive are other visitors to the house, including Dr Bombay (Bernard
Fox) who is on call to remove unusual spells or provide special incantations
and the Apothecary (Bernie Kopell), to supply the special ingredients needed
for various spells, including bat’s wings, mouse’s whiskers, lizard’s tails
and ground unicorn horn.

The mere mortals don’t stand a chance. They include Darrin’s parents, Phyllis
and Frank Stephens (Mabel Albertson and Robert F. Simon)’ Darrin’s boss
Larry Tate (David White) and his battling wife Louise (Kate Rogers) and
nosy neighbours Gladys and Abner Kravitz (Sandra Gould and George Tobias).
Due to the interference of his supernatural in-laws, Darrin gets fired from
his job at least twice a month and Sam has to use her powers to help him.
Elizabeth was born in Hollywood on April 15 1933, the daughter of actor
Robert Montgomery. She made her television debut in her father’s show and
at the age of 21 married TV director Fred Cammann, a marriage that only
lasted a few months. Her second marriage was to actor Gig Young, 14 years
her senior, who was an alcoholic. Following their divorce, she married director
William Asher in 1963 and the couple were to have three children - William,
Robert and Rebecca.

‘Bewitched’ ran for eight years and when the series ended, Elizabeth and
Asher were divorced. She lived with actor Robert Foxworth for the rest of
her life and died of cancer on May 10th 1995 at the age of 62.Dick
York first played her husband Darrin, but was in constant pain from an injury
caused during the filming of ‘They Came To Cordura’, which tore all the
muscles loose from his spine. The injury became seriously debilitating and
caused him to miss 14 episodes of the show.After five years, he suffered
a seizure one day on the set and had to be taken to hospital. He never returned
to the show.

Dick Sargent replaced his character, although there was no explanation
given for the change of actors, and the show dropped in the ratings. York
died of prostate cancer on July 8th 1994 at the age of 63. Sargent was
also to die of cancer.Highly popular in the series was veteran actress
Agnes Moorhead, six times nominated for an Oscar. As Samantha’s mother
Endora, who disapproves of her daughter marrying a mortal, she makes Darrin’s
life a misery and during the course of the series turns him into a chimp,
a gorilla, a mule, a goose, a frog, a statue, a pony, a crow, a goat,
a little boy and an invisible man. Her appearance in the series garnered
her five Emmy Award nominations. Agnes was to die of lung cancer in 1974
at the age of 68.

‘Bewitched’ had been in the movie planning stage for almost a decade and
several actresses, including Meryl Streep, had been mentioned in connection
with it at one time or another, but Nicole Kidman eventually took on the
adventures of the nose-twitching suburban housewife who just happens to
be a witch in the 2005 movie version of ‘Bewitched’!

Interestingly enough, back in the late 1990s, Nicole Kidman was mentioned
as possibly starring in a remake of the 1942 comedy, ‘I Married a Witch’,
playing the role originated by Veronica Lake. At the time, the concept
was that she would have been co-starring with her then-husband, Tom Cruise
(who was also producing).

Bill
Harryattended
the Liverpool College of Art with Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon and made
the arrangements for Brian Epstein to visit The Cavern, where he saw The
Beatles for the first time. Bill was a member of 'The Dissenters' and the
founder and editor of 'Mersey Beat', the iconic weekly music newspaper
that documented the early Sixties music scene in the Liverpool area and
is possibly best known for being the first periodical to feature a local
band called 'The Beatles'. He has worked as a high powered publicist, doing
PR for acts such as Suzi Quatro, Free, The Arrows and Hot Chocolate and
has managed press campaigns for record labels such as CBS, EMI, Polydor.
Bill is the critically acclaimed author of a large number of books about
The Beatles and the 60s era including 'The Beatles Who's Who', 'The Best
Years of the Beatles' and the Fab Four's 'Encyclopedia' series. He has appeared
on 'Good Morning America' and has received a Gold Award from the British
Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.